Cornet mouthpiece



Feb. 11, 1941. I s. HULSAVER 2,231,534

CORNET MOUTHPI EOE Filed Aug. 20, 1940 INVENTOR.

Patented Feb. 11, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Claims.

My invention relates to mouthpieces of the character of those used inmusical instruments and refers more particularly to mouthpieces such asare used for cornets, trumpets, bugles, trom- 5 bones, baritones,euphoniums, alto horns and the like.

Conventional mouthpieces are comprised of a rim against which the playerpresses his lips and a cup shaped cavity which emerges into the throator bore of the mouthpiece, finally passing through an outwardly expandedor tapered opening into the horn passage.

The tone of such instruments are produced by the vibration of the lipsof the player and in order to produce clear, pure tones, it is necessarythat both lips vibrate synchronously or in unison with each other.

The effect of a horn is to reinforce vibrations which enter into it, dueto the resonant properties of the body of air therein and the quantityand quality of resonance depends upon the volume of the enclosed air andupon the shape, as a horn is an air resonator.

Therefore it is self evident that the quantity and quality of a tonedepends upon the shape and proportion of the cup of the mouthpiece or inother words, its construction and also the material of which it is made.

There is a direct connection between these conditions as it is wellknown, that the tone depends upon the velocity of the vibrations, thetime on the continuance of the vibrations, the richness and volume uponthe number of coexisting vibrations and the quality on the magnitude ofthe vibrating corpuscles.

The tones of a perfect instrument of this character should be clear andfull in the upper register and mellow and rich in the lower, whicheffect is dependent upon the shape and function of the mouthpiece used.

The object of my invention is to provide a mouthpiece that has means forcausing the lips to assume the proper shape for playing and keep them inthat shape without excessive pressure which tends to paralize the lipsof the player and at the same time to give a certain freedom of movementwithout impairing the vibrations of the lips.

I attain these results by means of the special form of the cup of themouthpiece hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing, wherein like numerals refer to similar parts throughout theseveral views, in which:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the improved mouthpiece.

Figure 2 is a partial section, illustrating a modification of themouthpiece.

The mouthpiece is comprised of several elements, the body I, bell shapedon the mouthpiece end, having a tapered outside portion 3, adapted tofit into the tube of the instrument, not shown, an inside tapered bore4, entering into the throat 5, gradually expanding at 6, to a shoulderl, which extends inwardly at 8, forming a lip opening 9.

This opening 9, is rounded at It), and continues, preferably rounded, atII, where it joins the wall I2, to which it is connected, to a perfectlycircular portion I3, which in turn is connected to the tapered portion3.

The particular shape of the bell, its diameter, taper and depth isdependent to a certain extent upon which instrument it is to be usedwith and varies in accordance therewith.

The shoulder l, is the most vital part of the device, for the reasonthat when the lips are positioned over the opening 9, and the operatorbegins to blow, it is absolutely necessary that the lips must be inperfect seal with the surfaces I0 and II.

This is provided for by the particular shape of the shoulder I, whichprovides this required seal, whereby when air pressure is applied to thecup space or tone chamber I4, a partial vacuum is established under theshoulder I, which draws in the lips and thus forms a perfect seal.

In Figure 2, the end I5, of the cup is ground flat and the ring I6, isattached thereto by any suitable means providing the shoulder I, and itis obvious that the body I, could be made of silver and the ring I6, ofgold, providing the most perfect kinds of material to produce the bestresults.

Having thus described and illustrated the preferred embodiment of myinvention, I do not wish to limit myself to the exact construction orarrangement of parts shown, as modifications may be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention or scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. In a mouthpiece of the character described, a shank portion taperedfor insertion in the mouth pipe of an instrument, a cup portion providedwith a rounded rim extending from the shank portion, a fiat shoulderunder the inner periphery of said rounded rim formed to provide apartial vacuum means.

2. In a mouthpiece of the character described, a shank portion taperedfor insertion in the mouthpipe of an instrument, a cup portion having arounded rim, providing an outwardly enlarging tone chamber extendingfrom the shank portion, a fiat shoulder extending inwardly under saidrounded rim providing the tone chamber with a partial vacuum means atits entrance.

3. In a mouthpiece of the character described, a conventional mouthpiecewith a shank, bell and tone chamber provided with an angular shouldermaintaining a partial vacuum under the inner periphery of the bellportion of said tone chamber. 4. In a mouthpiece of the characterdescribed, a shank formed to fit the mouth pipe of a musical instrument,a bell shaped tone chamber terminating in a ring shaped portion integralthereof providing an angular shoulder under the ring shaped portionwhich connects with the said bell shaped tone chamber.

5. In a mouthpiece of the character described, a mouthpiece providing anoutwardly enlarging tone chamber terminating in a flat surface under aring shaped rim that is integral with said tone chamber, said rim havingan opening of smaller diameter than the flat surface connected with theoutwardly enlarging portion of the said tone chamber, said flat portionformed to provide a partial vacuum under the rim of the inner peripheryof said tone chamber.

AARON S. HULSAVER.

